Lepraria is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains. Members of the genus are commonly called dust lichens. The main vegetative body (thallus) is made of patches of soredia. There are no known mechanisms for sexual reproduction, yet members of the genus continue to speciate. Some species can form marginal lobes and appear squamulose. Because of the morphological simplicity of the thallus and the absence of sexual structures, the composition of lichen products are important characters to distinguish between similar species in Lepraria.
A corticolous lichen is a lichen that grows on bark. This is contrasted with lignicolous lichen, which grows on wood that has had the bark stripped from it, and saxicolous lichen, which grows on rock.
Graphis crebra is a species of corticolous lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It has a pantropical distribution. Like other script lichens, it grows on bark and resembles calligraphy. It can be distinguished from several other similar species by the white pruina (powder) on its apothecial discs.
Graphis plumierae is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It was described as new to science in 1915 by Finnish mycologist Edvard Vainio. The type was collected in Gourbeyre, Guadeloupe. In 2016, G. plumierae was reported from Portugal, which was also a new occurrence for Europe.
Alan W. Archer is a mycologist and taxonomist. He is currently an honorary research associate at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. He uses chemotaxonomy as well as morphological features in taxonomy and to devise keys, most recently for the genus Pertusaria in the Australasia region.
Salazinic acid is a depsidone with a lactone ring. It is found in some lichens, and is especially prevalent in Parmotrema and Bulbothrix, where its presence or absence is often used to help classify species in those genera.
Pertusaria salazinica is a species of crustose lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. Found in Australia, it was described as a new species in 2017 by lichenologists Alan Archer and John Alan Elix. The type specimen was collected in Tully Gorge National Park (Queensland) at an altitude of 885 m (2,904 ft). Here, in a montane rainforest, it was found growing on a rotting log. The specific epithet refers to the presence of salazinic acid, a major secondary compound in the lichen. It also contains norstictic acid as a major metabolite, and connorstictic acid as a minor metabolite. Pertusaria salazinica is only known from the type specimen.
Phaeographis salazinica is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in the Solomon Islands, the lichen was first described as a new species in 2003 by Australian lichenologist Alan W. Archer. He named it Phaeographis salazinica, with the specific epithet referring to the presence of the compound salazinic acid as its major secondary compound. The lichen also contains trace amounts of consalazinic acid, connorstictic acid, norstictic acid, subnorstictic acid, protocetraric acid, and methyl norstictate. The type specimen was collected near Tatamba on Tanabuli Island. The main morphological characteristics of Phaeographis salazinica are the conspicuous lirellae, and the large brown muriform ascospores. Archer transferred the taxon to the genus Phaeographis in 2007.
Carbacanthographis salazinica is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Australia, it was described as a new species in 2001 by lichenologist Alan Archer. The type specimen was collected by Archer in Conglomerate State Forest. Here the lichen was found growing on the bark of a palm tree. Its thallus is thin and grayish-green, with conspicuous white lirellae measuring 1–4 mm long. The specific epithet refers to salazinic acid, the presence of which is a distinguishing characteristic of this species. The lichen also has trace amounts of other secondary chemicals, including consalazinic acid, norstictic acid, and protocetraric acid. In 2005 Archer transferred the taxon to genus Carbacanthographis.
Pertusaria epacrospora is a rare species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), areolate lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. Found in Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 1991 by lichenologist Alan W. Archer. The type specimen was collected in Park Beach at sea level; here, it was found growing on trees in a coastal sand dune. The lichen has a thin, pale yellowish-green thallus lacking soredia and isidia. It has numerous wart-shaped apothecia, the same colour as the thallus, which measure 0.4–0.8 mm in diameter and which have a single, inconspicuous ostiole. The ascospores, which number 2 per ascus, are smooth and fusiform (spindle-shaped), typically measuring 125–150 μm long by 35–45 μm wide. Pertusaria epacrospora is only known to occur at the type locality. Secondary compounds found in the lichen are thiophaninic acid and stictic acid as major components, and minor to trace amounts of constictic acid and hypostictic acid.
Allographa uruguayensis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Uruguay, it was formally described as a new species in 2018 by lichenologist Robert Lücking. He had previously informally introduced the species as Graphis uruguayensis in a 2009 publication, but without a proper description. The type specimen was collected in 1968 by Henry Imshaug in Parque Franklin Delano Roosevelt, near Montevideo; here it was found in a planted grove containing Pinus and Eucalyptus. The lichen has a pale yellow-grey thallus, measuring 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) across and 50–70 μm thick, which lacks a prothallus. The ascospores, which number 6 to 8 per ascus, are thick-walled, oblong with between 11 and 17 septa, and measure 45–70 by 6–8 μm. Allographa elongata is somewhat similar in morphology, but is distinguished by differences in the structure of the lirellae, and in ascospore width.
Parvoplaca nigroblastidiata is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. Found in Europe and Alaska, it was formally described as a new species in 2015 by Ulf Arup, Jan Vondrák, and Mehmet Halıcı. The type specimen was collected in the Nyhem Parish, Jämtland (Sweden), where it was growing on the bark of Populus tremula. In Turkey, it has been recorded at high altitudes on the bark of Juniperus excelsa and Abies cilicica, while in a single record from Alaska it is growing on Populus. In 2018 it was reported from the sacred groves of Epirus in Greece, and in 2020 from Norway.
Diaphorographis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has two species. The genus was circumscribed in 2009 by lichenologists Alan W. Archer and Klaus Kalb, with D. queenslandica as the type species. The genus is distinguished from Graphis by the I− (iodine-negative) ascospores, and from Carbacanthographis) by the absence of periphysoids. Collectively, the genus is found in northern Queensland, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands. Although the genus was originally reported to not contain any lichen products, a later reexamination of the type species revealed the presence of protocetraric acid.
Graphis flavovirens is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in the Andaman Islands, it was formally described as a new species in 2005 by Urmila Makhija and Bharati Adawadkar. The type specimen was collected from Parlobjig. The species epithet "flavovirens", which combines the Latin words for yellow and green, refers to the colour of the thallus. Its ascomata are in the form of conspicuous lirellae: they are long and black, with a branching pattern ranging from simple to radiately and profusely branched; this particular branching pattern is known as the centrifuga-morph. G. flavovirens produces ellipsoidal ascospores that have from 3 to 9 transverse septa and measure 16–42 by 4–8 μm. G. flavovirens contains two lichen products: stictic acid and constictic acid.
Pertusaria stictica is a species of corticolous and lignicolous, crustose lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. Found on the Galápagos Islands, it was formally described as a new species in 2015 by Fredy Nugra, Alan W. Archer, Frank Bungartz, and John Elix. The type specimen was collected at the border of the Galápagos National Park at an altitude of 471 m (1,545 ft), where in a secondary forest it was found growing on Psidium galapageium. The species epithet refers to stictic acid, a major metabolite in the lichen. It also contains trace amounts of constictic acid.
Acanthothecis borealis is a rare species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found only in the Northern Territory in Australia, it was described as new to science by Australian lichenologists Alan W. Archer and John Elix in 2007. The species is characterized by its inconspicuous lirellae, which are apothecia that are simple, straight, curved, or sinuous (bendy) in shape, with lips closed and a conspicuous thalline margin, and the presence of protocetraric acid. The thallus of this species is off-white to pale grey. It has elongate-ellipsoid ascospores that do not change colour with iodine and have fewer locules (16–18) compared to similar species. The type specimen was collected by the second author from Berry Springs Nature Park in the Northern Territory, where it was found growing of the twigs of a small tree.
Glyphis frischiana is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It is distinguished by its large ascospores, single-spored asci, and the presence of stictic acid as a major metabolite. Found on the trunk of Eucalyptus trees in Cameroon, it is similar in appearance to Glyphis atrofusca but can be distinguished by these key characteristics.
Fissurina elixii is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It is found in New South Wales and Tasmania in Australia.
Pyxine profallax is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), foliose lichen in the family Caliciaceae. It is found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand.
Fissurina paradoxica is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 2001 by the lichenologist Alan W. Archer, who initially classified it in the genus Graphis. The type specimen was collected in the Buckenbowra River estuary in New South Wales, where it was found growing on the bark of a tree along a tidal creek. The species epithet paradoxica alludes to the unexpected presence of 2-methylpsoromic acid, which, at the time of publication, was the only species in genus Graphis known to contains this lichen product. Archer transferred the taxon to the genus Fissurina in 2005.
